The Brown–Eyed Monster
by Amarin Rose
Summary: Pairing: Joey–Tristan Summary: Joey thinks Tristan's been spending a bit too much time with Duke, and now the green–eyed monster has reared its not–so–ugly head. Or maybe that's just an excuse to get Tristan to kiss him...


**The Brown-Eyed Monster**

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"You want me to **kiss **you to prove I like girls?!"

"Exactly." Joey nodded.

"How **exactly** will that work, man? You're a guy," Tristan said acidly. "In the view of most people – most **sane** people, of which I am beginning to doubt you are one – a guy kissing another guy proves that he likes **guys**, Joe." _Which I do, more specifically **him**, but he doesn't need to know that…_

"Not if you don't enjoy it," Joey insisted.

_Oh, I'm sure I'd enjoy it – too much. I'd never be able to keep that knowledge from you, and then my secret would be out. Time to go on the offensive._ Giving his friend a piercing glare, Tristan asked, "Why exactly is my heterosexuality in question here anyway?"

At this Joey finally faltered, but only a moment later his confidence was restored. "You and dice boy used ta spend most a' yer time fightin' over my sister, but a few weeks ago ya just gave up, and so did he. And now you're actin' all buddy-buddy with each other, so much so that the whole school thinks yer datin'. Serenity's a bit miffed, and, actually, so am I. I didn't exactly want either a' you two jokers datin' 'er, but I'd rather you date my sister than Devlin."

Tristan's eyes narrowed. He'd known Joey since they were kids, and he could always tell when the blond was lying. And right now Joey was prevaricating better than Bakura. Plus, there was the fact that he knew Joey well enough to be able to gauge everything his friend was feeling. And right now, Joey was…jealous?

"Nice try, Joe, but I know you too well," Tristan said. "I can understand why you might be a bit put off by my friendship with Duke – especially with that whole bet that ended up with you wearing a dog suit – but demanding that I kiss you is **not** going to help your cause here."

"My cause?" Joey asked, clearly confused.

"You're jealous, Joe," Tristan stated.

Joey looked dumbfounded…and slightly panicked. "What?" he shrieked, voice high-pitched. He cleared his throat and continued in a calmer, but no less strained, tone, "Jealous? Of what?"

Interest piqued, Tristan said, "Of the fact that I've been spending time with Duke instead of you." Which was because they were both gay and hiding it from their friends; but again, Joey didn't need to know that. What was up with Joey, anyway? He was acting really weird – not that he didn't normally, but…

Joey went pale. "I…uh…ano…"

Tristan's legendary patience finally ran out. He was tired of Joey beating around the bush. There was more to this ludicrous request than just Joey being jealous of his friendship with Duke. "Just spit it out, Joey."

"Huh?"

Marshalling the last shreds of his patience, Tristan gritted out, "Why are you jealous and what does it have to do with you demanding I kiss you?"

Joey's mouth went dry, but he managed to croak out, "I like you."

Bemused, Tristan said, "I like you too, Joe, I…"

"No, I mean, I **like** you." Joey's face flamed and he seemed to have a hard time looking the other boy in the eye.

_Well, whaddya know?_ Tristan thought sardonically. _I know Duke broke off the chase for Serenity because he had a thing for Kaiba – and that turned out real well for him, seeing as how he called me last night to tell me they'd gotten together – just like I stopped chasing her because I realized I was sublimating my feelings for her brother by pursuing her. But even though I have a thing for Joey, I never thought that he would ever return my feelings._

Realizing he'd just been standing there for several minutes, not saying a word in response to Joey's declaration, Tristan said, "Well, like I said, I **like** you too, Joey."

Joey's head snapped up so fast Tristan thought for a split second the inertia might cause it to continue bobbing back and forth like one of those bobble-head dogs. "You…you do?" he squeaked.

Giving the blond a lazy smile, Tristan sauntered over to him. "Yeah, Joe, I do," he murmured, leaning down and pressing his lips to Joey's in a tender kiss. When he pulled away it was to see that Joey's eyes were half-lidded, and he was slack-jawed.

"I…uh…" Joey stuttered, before finally summing up his feelings with, "Wow."

Tristan chuckled. _Typical Joey…why waste time talking about your feelings when you can just use one word?_ "Yeah, wow," he whispered, before leaning back down to repeat his previous action. He was gratified to note that this time Joey was kissing him back; therefore, the kiss lasted much longer.

When they finally pulled apart for breath, Tristan said teasingly, "You know, Joey, I don't think your idea worked."

"Hmmm?" Joey asked absently, eyes glazed over with hormone-induced happiness.

"Well, I enjoyed that kiss, so I guess it proved that I **don't** like girls," Tristan pointed out.

Snapping back to reality, Joey starred at him in disbelief. "Who cares?" he asked, before rising up to kiss Tristan again.

_Certainly not me,_ Tristan thought muzzily as his mind turned to mush from the expert kiss. Before his brain completely shut down he had time for one last reflection, _But I really hope this jealousy bit is only a one time thing…it could cause problems… Plus, I like brown eyes better than green…_

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THE END


End file.
